City Lights Bookstransfers@onixsuite.com20150802T2026ZengCOM.ONIXSUITE.97808728649240301City Lights Books03978087286492415978087286492400BC08454gr0816oz0101Portions From a Wine-Stained NotebookUncollected Stories and Essays, 1944-19901A01Charles BukowskiBukowski, CharlesCharlesBukowski<p>
Charles Bukowski was born in Andernach, Germany on August 16, 1920, the only child of an American soldier and a German mother. At the age of three, he came with his family to the United States and grew up in Los Angeles. He attended Los Angeles City College from 1939 to 1941, then left school and moved to New York City to become a writer. His lack of publishing success at this time caused him to give up writing in 1946 and spurred a ten-year stint of heavy drinking. After he developed a bleeding ulcer, he decided to take up writing again. He worked a wide range of jobs to support his writing, including dishwasher, truck driver and loader, mail carrier, guard, gas station attendant, stock boy, warehouse worker, shipping clerk, post office clerk, parking lot attendant, Red Cross orderly, and elevator operator. He also worked in a dog biscuit factory, a slaughterhouse, a cake and cookie factory, and he hung posters in New York City subways.</p>
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Bukowski published his first story when he was twenty-four and began writing poetry at the age of thirty-five. His first book of poetry was published in 1959; he went on to publish more than forty-five books of poetry and prose, including <em>Pulp</em> (Black Sparrow, 1994), <em>Screams from the Balcony: Selected Letters 1960-1970</em> (1993), and <em>The Last Night of the Earth Poems</em> (1992). He died of leukemia in San Pedro on March 9, 1994.</p>2B01David Stephen CalonneCalonne, David StephenDavid StephenCalonne<p>
<strong>David Stephen Calonne</strong> has edited three previous books of uncollected prose by Charles Bukowski for City Lights. He is the author of several books, including the critical study Charles Bukowski, and the editor of Charles Bukowski: Sunlight Here I Am/Interviews and Encounters 1963-1993.</p>01eng003000320"Portions from a wine-stained notebook"; Bukowski; clip; video0300<P></p>
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<P><strong>Listen to a <a href="http://www.citylightspodcast.com/jack-hirschman-neeli-cherkovski-recall-life-with-bukowski/">podcast</a> of former San Francisco Poet Laureate Jack Hirschman and poet Neeli Cherkovski remembering life with the inimitable Charles Bukowski.</strong></p>
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<P>Charles Bukowski (1920-1994), one of the most outrageous and controversial figures of 20th-century American literature, was so prolific that many important pieces were never collected during his lifetime. <em>Portions</em> is a substantial selection of these wide-ranging works, most of which have been unavailable since their original appearance in underground newspapers, literary journals, even porno mags. Among the highlights are his first published short story, "Aftermath of a Lengthy Rejection Slip"; his last short story, "The Other"; his first and last essays; and the first installment of his famous "Notes of a Dirty Old Man" column. The book contains meditations on his familiar themes (drinking, horse-racing, etc.) as well as singular discussions of such figures as Artaud, Pound, and the Rolling Stones. Other significant works include the experimental title piece; a fictionalized account of meeting his hero, John Fante ("I Meet the Master"); an unflinching review of Hemingway ("An Old Drunk Who Ran Out of Luck"); the intense, autobiographical "Dirty Old Man Confesses"; and several discussions of his aesthetics ("A Rambling Essay on Poetics and the Bleeding Life Written While Drinking a Six-Pack (Tall)," "In Defense of a Certain Type of Poetry, a Certain Type of Life, a Certain Type of Blood-Filled Creature Who Will Someday Die," and "Upon the Mathematics of the Breath and the Way", revealing an unexpectedly learned mind behind his seemingly offhand productions.<br />
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<em>Portions From a Wine-Stained Notebook</em> is essential reading for Bukowski fans, as well as a good introduction for new readers of this innovative, unconventional writer.</p>
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<P><strong>Praise for <em>Portions From a Wine-Stained Notebook</em>:</strong></p>
<P>"Finally, after Bukowski's nearly 50 published books: novels, short stories, poetry, letters, essays, etc. David Calonne has unearthed <em>Portions From a Wine-Stained Notebook</em>, the previously missing link in Bukowski's oeuvre that suddenly makes everything come clear."<br />
—John Martin, Black Sparrow Press<br />
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</strong>"You know, I just think <em>this</em> is really hot. Among its many gifts, <em>Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook</em> has one of the best lesbian sex scenes I ever read. I read Bukowski standing up one day in a bookstore (City Lights) and thought he did it too. What Henry Miller did. He wrote <em>American.</em> When it meant something good. Fucked up, male, but incredibly true. In a distinct rhythm."<br />
—Eileen Myles, author of <em>Sorry, Tree</em> and <em>Cool for You</em><strong><br />
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</strong>"Bukowski wrote the way he lived, and Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook is as vivid, bad-ass, screamingly funny, and gutter-angelic as the man himself. Reading these stories and essays, you can hear the beating heart of the poet in every line. Bukowski never wasted a word,<br />
and this collection should go far towards shining a light on prose in danger of being lost in the shadow of its larger-than-life author. Those new to his work will have the good fortune of discovering a writer who could break your heart, make you howl, and slap you off your bar-stool you in a single sentence. In a world long since gone lousy with faux hard-living typers and posers, he was the original."<br />
—Jerry Stahl<u>, </u>author of <em>Permanent Midnight, Perv, Plainclothes Naked,</em> and<em> I, Fatty</em>.</p>
<P><strong>Watch a clip from "Charles Bukowski Tapes" (1985) by Barbet Schroeder, where Bukowski takes a tour of Hollywood, pointing out his favorite spots:</strong></p>
<object width="425" height="344"> <embed width="320" height="260" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tAsJOh_haMs&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>
<P> </p>0200Essential uncollected work from one of the most infamous and provocative contemporary American writers.03020600<p><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: black;">"With selected pieces ranging from 1944-1990, Bukowski cleverly paints his careful moments of brutal honesty that can be regarded as some of the most sublime narratives Bukowski's ever produced</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: black;"> . . . If Bukowski fans find their personal library lacking this spirited collection, I’d suggest they be quick to snag a copy.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: black;">"</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: black;">—Tony R. Rodriguez</span></span></p>East Bay Literary Examiner0600<p>"This is a valuable addition to the expanding, some might say morbidly obese, bulk of posthumous Bukowski titles. It's not just another agglomeration of odds and soda, unfinished drafts, and scraps that weren't good enough to publish the first time around, flaws that characterized his recent output and which even his most fervent acolytes must realize. No, Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook is a different animal. . . . This collection is also unique in that it offers a glimpse of Bukowski as nonfiction writer. . . . Most of his work, in fact, occupies a murky uncertain terrain, a lawless border town where poetry, fiction, and memoir meet for a light lunch. In some of these essays, we meet a writer of criticism and manifestos, reminding us that Bukowski was never simply a primitive naif but rather a disciplined, self-aware, thoughtful, and widely read artisan. It took a lot of hard work to make it seem otherwise." <br />
—Andrew Madigan</p>The Bloomsbury Review0600<p>"[Bukowski] could be generous and mean-spirited, heroic and defensive, spot-on and slanted, but he became the world-class writer he had set out to be; he has joined the permanent anti-canon or shadow-canon whose denizens had shown him the way. Today the frequent allusions to him in both popular and mainstream culture tend more to respect than mockery. If scholarship has lagged, this book would indicate that this situation is changing." <br />
—Gerald Locklin</p>Resources for American Literary Study0600<p>
"It features a wealth of previously uncollected Bukowski material, including his first published short stories, book reviews, essays on literature, U.S. politics, his writing craft, biographical accounts, entries from his famous NOTES of a DIRTY OLD MAN newspaper column, tips on how to win at the racetrack and even a review of a Rolling Stones concert. David Stephen Calonne provides a lucid and highly learned introduction to the book. . . . No Bukophile should miss out on this book."</p>
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—Bold Monkey</p>Bold Monkey0600<p>"[<em>Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook</em> is] a genuine treasure trove of some of Bukowski's most important and entertaining work. David Calonne's excellent introduction provides a comprehensive overview of Bukowski's literary career, and contextualizes its importance and relevance in an intelligent and convincing manner. . . The result is a fascinating collection that clarly show how Bukowski developed his school-of-hard-knocks education into a solid, full-fledged aesthetics, and reveals a surprisingly erudite and well-read mind, proving that there was indeed a method to his apparent madness. The gritty panache and street-level humor with which Bukowski lays bare his hard-earned wisdom makes for a compelling read. . . But <em>Portions</em> is much more than just an entertaining read, offering many revealing insights and behind-the-scenes looks into the workings of the mind of a genuine outsider and literary innovator. As such, <em>Portions</em> provides an important cornerstone in the foundation of what is gradually becoming a true monument in American letters. This is essential reading for Bukowki fans (and skeptics), as well as anyone interested in the development of modern American literature, to which Bukowski has made a major contribution."</p>
<p>—Mark Terrill</p>Small Press Review0600<p>"[The] essays [in <em>Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook</em>] have that sometimes-absent discipline (or help from editors) so that even when they consist of disconnected paragraphs, they have a kind of form. And, I think, a preciseness of language that's missing in his lesser work. I was charmed. . . Editor David Stephen Callone makes the case, in his introduction, that Bukowski had an 'essentially European cultural sensibility,' that his dirtiness was transgressive a la Bataille, that his dark humor is existential. Maybe I'm responding to these intellectual rubrics—or maybe I'm swayed by his refusal to behave, just as my drunken poet friends were years ago. . . there is also a fair measure of the spark that made Bukowski a Los Angeles icon in the first place."</p>
<p>—Carolyn Kellogg</p>Los Angeles Times0600"In digging up more fragments from the author's vast (and uneven) library, editor David Stephen Calonne . . . reveals many of the Dirty Old Man's less-than-savory peccadilloes, but also his singular significance to 20th-century American literature . . . Over the course of the 35-plus pieces in this collection, Bukowski makes full use of his Muse, touching on nearly all his favorite topics: drinking, women, sex ('Workout' could carry an X rating), fighting, horse-racing, the drudgery of the nine-to-five . . . <em>Portions From a Wine-Stained Notebook</em> is a welcome addition to the growing Bukowski library . . . "<br />
—Eric LiebetrauCharleston City Paper0600<p>"The pillars of his life, as Charles Bukowski saw it, were elemental: 'Poetry, paint, sand, whores,' he writes in the title polemic of his new volume of uncollected writings, <em>Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook</em>, adding, for good measure; 'food, fire, death, bullshit…the turning of the fan…the bottle.' In a literary climate where it is assumed writing can be taught and networking Helps Your Career, this unholy assemblage of influences has become an almost refreshing creative counter-mantra—and yet it is also a cliché. Prolonged exposure to its twisted logic can be invigorating and boring, which is what it's like to pick through this grab-bag volume. On one page there is the sparkle of Bukowski's genius; on the next there's the self-pitying."</p>
<p>—John Freeman</p>NewCity Chicago0600"<em>Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook</em> is mightily essential reading for all Bukowski fans. . . . City Lights have given us earlier Bukowski, the man scrapping to find a readership, the man still drinking himself into a stupor in order to quell his fear of live readings. This is hungry Charles Bukowski."Beat Scene0600"This volume is filled with 36 short selections of prose by the late Bukowski, who is especially known for his poetry (e.g., Bone Palace Ballet). Via short stories and nonfiction—introductions to the work of other writers, book reviews, and autobiographical accounts—the reader is taken on a roller-coaster ride through the waxing and waning lucidity and sometimes depravity of Bukowski's trademark topics (perhaps obsessions): sex, drinking, writing, and self-deprecating. Delving into social commentary, such as his observation that society is more interested in an artist’s personal life than artistic creations, Bukowski also documents the most private moments of his life, seemingly giving society what it wants. Describing in painful detail the abuse he suffered as a child, his antisocial interactions with others, strange sexual encounters, and ongoing battles with alcoholism and depression, this author remains astoundingly unique. Some will declare him an artistic genius, while others will agree with Bukowski’s own depictions of himself as a dirty old man. Recommended for larger public and academic libraries."Library Journal0600"More posthumous uncollected prose from the Dirty Old Man. Calonne (English/Eastern Michigan Univ.; William Saroyan: My Real Work Is Being, 1983, etc.), who previously edited a volume of Bukowski's interviews, digs up a few more fragments from the author's vast—and scattershot—oeuvre. As with many 'uncollected' selections, the results are a mixed bag, but Bukowski's gruff directness and take-no-crap attitude shine through. Discussing his style in 'Basic Training,' he writes, 'I hurled myself toward my personal god: SIMPLICITY. The tighter and smaller you got it the less chance there was of error and the lie. Genius could be the ability to say a profound thing in a simple way.' Certainly, much of Bukowski’s genius lay in his plainspoken, immediate, self-assured prose, but his constant attack on the literary establishment also earned him accolades—and scorn—from fellow writers and critics. He held special contempt for pretentious elitists, those, as Calonne eloquently notes in his illuminating introduction, 'who tried to domesticate the sacred barbaric Muse: the disruptive, primal, archaic, violent, inchoate forces of the creative unconscious.' In the more than 35 pieces that comprise the volume, Bukowski runs through all his favorite topics—drinking, fighting, women, horse-racing ('A track is some place you go so you won’t stare at the walls and whack off, or swallow ant poison')—but he’s at his most lucid and powerful when he explores the process of writing, both his own and others (Artaud, Hemingway, his hero John Fante). There’s a neat deconstruction of Ezra Pound, excerpts from his 'Notes of a Dirty Old Man' column and a peripatetic review of a Rolling Stones concert. Though a few of the selections are little more than ill-formed rants, probably originally scrawled across a bar napkin, there is plenty of the visceral, potent, even graphically sexual (tame readers beware of 'Workout') material to satisfy fans.Not for novices, but a welcome addition to Bukowski’s growing library." <br />Kirkus Reviews0100East Bay Literary Examinerhttp://www.examiner.com/x-706-East-Bay-Literary-Examiner~y2009m4d5-Charles-Bukowskis-Recent-Collection-of-Essays-and-Stories0100The Bloomsbury Reviewhttp://www.citylights.com/book/?GCOI=872861008567200100Resources for American Literary Studyhttp://www.amspressinc.com/rals.html0100Bold Monkeyfile:///Users/intern2/Library/Mail%20Downloads/charles-bukowski-portions-from-wine.html0100Los Angeles Timeshttp://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/816965/346216610100Charleston City Paperhttp://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A515280100NewCity Chicagohttp://www.newcitychicago.com/chicago/8311.html0100030201D50202600340072815http://www.citylights.com/resources/titles/87286100856720/images/9780872864924XS.jpg1720130410T2325Z0201D502024750331607111984http://www.citylights.com/resources/titles/87286100856720/images/9780872864924L.jpg1720130410T2325Z1500040201E1070759628http://www.citylights.com/resources/titles/87286100856720/extras/Calonne_Q_A.pdf1500040201E10707189744http://www.citylights.com/resources/titles/87286100856720/extras/PortionsWineExcerptCL.pdf0400030201D501http://www.citylights.com/resources/persons/4871.gifCity Lights Publishers01City Lights Publishers0401200809010201GCOI8728610085672006039780872864962